An Essential Beginner’s Guide To Spearfishing

Spearfishing, as a practice, has been around since prehistoric times. While it started as a means of survival, it has become a sport now enjoyed by many people worldwide. Essentially, spearfishing refers to an extreme sport that involves freediving and using any speargun or other related device to catch a fish.

If you want to spearfish successfully, there are many things to consider, especially if you're just getting started with the sport. One of these considerations is learning the fundamentals of spearfishing for beginners.

But how are you going to do that? Here's an essential beginner's guide to spearfishing that you may want to know from the get-go.

The Gear
Before going on a spearfishing trip, you need to invest in the proper spearfishing gear. Although the spearfishing tools and equipment used by beginners vary from that of experienced spearos, the following are some common items that should be part of your spearfishing gear: 

• Wetsuit: It can help keep you comfortable when swimming in the water for spearfishing activity. It can help protect you against the sun, marine flora and fauna, and other related hazards that you encounter in the water.
• Fins: They can help you get around while saving energy underwater. They're available in fiberglass, plastic, and carbon.
• Mask and Snorkel: These can provide you with good visibility while swimming in the water. A low-profile mask may be an excellent choice if you want to deal with pressure easily underwater. On the other hand, a snorkel can help you breathe underwater.
• Weight Belt: It can help keep you from floating back to the surface when wearing your wetsuit.
• Speargun: It can be used for shooting a spear at the fish you're aiming for.
• Pole Spear: It can be used to spear fish and other marine mammals from land or a boat. When you go on a non-diving spearfishing trip, it's usually a weapon of choice. 

Indeed, there are a few items to keep in mind when preparing your spearfishing gear for your next fishing adventure. Thankfully, there are many reliable stores online where you can shop for these essential tools and equipment for spearfishing. For more information on spearfishing gear, you may check here or visit some websites online.  

Techniques To Remember
Now that you know the essential items to use when spearfishing for the first time, it's time to familiarize yourself with the fundamental techniques used in this extreme sport. These can include:

• Shallow Water Spearfishing: It's a simple way to spearfish as it's done from above the water line, such as when you're on the shore, a boat, or a kayak.
• Freedive Spearfishing: It's a technique wherein you have to become an excellent diver to spear a fish correctly. In doing so, you need to know how to breathe and behave underwater to increase your chances of catching a fish. To successfully perform freedive spearfishing, it's advisable to do shallow water dives first, relax to save some energy, close your mouth and cover your nose before blowing the air out, and make slight and natural movements to spear a fish.
• Scuba Dive Spearfishing: This technique allows you to spear bigger fish located at greater depths. When doing scuba dive spearfishing, you should expect longer dives and careful observation of the target fish. 

Safety Tips
As a beginner in spearfishing, you should never take safety for granted. So, if you're going on a spearfishing trip anytime soon, below are some safety tips to consider from the beginning:

• Know Your Dive Spots

If you're spearfishing for the first time, it's important to research your dive spots before making any move. There are diving areas that are only allowed for experienced divers due to challenging terrain, unsafe water current, and rough waters. To ensure your safety, ask the employees of a local dive shop where the safe dive spots are for beginners in spearfishing.

• Always Go With A Buddy

Even if you know how to spear a fish, unfortunate accidents may still happen underwater. In that case, it's best to always go on a spearfishing journey with someone. If something wrong happens, such as getting attacked by marine wildlife or running out of air, you have a buddy who can help you and keep you safe.  

• Bring A Dive Knife

Having a dive knife while spearfishing can be beneficial for safety. If you or your dive buddy gets tangled underwater, you can use the dive knife to free yourself or your partner.

• Be Careful With The Speargun

To ensure safety during the spearfishing activity, you should know some basic handling rules associated with spearguns. For example, you should never point your speargun to someone else's direction to avoid an unfortunate accident. Also, you should avoid loading the speargun out of the water. Lastly, you should keep your finger away from the trigger unless you're prepared to shoot, and always know what or who is behind your target.

Doing all these things can keep you and other people safe while you're underwater to spear a fish.

Conclusion
If you love being in the water, spearfishing can be an entertaining sport you can try. However, like in other extreme sports, things can also go wrong if you don't know what to do and what not to do during the activity. Therefore, keep the information mentioned above in mind if you're planning to spear a fish for the first time. With proper knowledge and training, you can become an experienced spearo in no time.